Olympic Success Carries a Bonus for Koreans: Military Exemption

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South Korean soccer players tossed their coach, Hong Myung-bo, in the air after beating Japan to win bronze at the 2012 Olympics in London. Those who played for the team won exemption from the country’s compulsory military service.CreditLuca Bruno/Associated Press

BUSAN, South Korea — Kim Kee-hee’s brief appearance at the 2012 London Olympics could be one of the most lucrative five minutes in soccer history. Appearing just before the final whistle in South Korea’s 2-0 win over Japan in the bronze medal playoff ensured that the defender was granted, along with all teammates who played in the Games, exemption from the country’s military service, which is mandatory for able-bodied males.

Had Kim not taken the field for the first time just as the tournament was about to end, he would have had to start a 21-month tour of duty by the time he was 28. Now 27, he would most likely now be preparing to join the army team Sangju Sangmu in the K-League Classic, South Korea’s top tier of soccer, to collect the average soldier stipend of around $120 a month, serving a country technically still at war with North Korea.

Instead in February, Kim signed with the Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shenhua to become his country’s fourth-highest earning soccer player with a reported annual salary of around $2.4 million.

Four years later in Brazil, a new generation of South Korean players will be hoping to follow in Kim’s footsteps to win a medal, and more.

The 2002 World Cup team was given exemption by the government after reaching the semifinals. The same prize awaits all athletes that win gold at the Asian Games or any medal at the Olympics. Of the other 15 teams in Brazil, none, including the host, will have the same desire going into the tournament.

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Son Heung-min, right, playing for the English club Tottenham Hotspur. Son will be one of the leading players on the South Korean Olympic soccer team.CreditRex Features, via Associated Press

The current coach of the South Korea Olympic team, Shin Tae-yong, admits that the military issue can be a double-edged sword for a coach. “I can’t disagree that there can be a problem of pressure,” Shin wrote in an email. “I recognize the pressure that players and I face due to the military exemption issue.”

The challenge for Shin, who led the Korean club Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma to the 2010 Asian Champions League title, is to ensure that the issue does not become a burden. “I think that motivation is much greater than the feeling of pressure, so I don’t think it is going to be a problem.”

Shin’s star player is Son Heung-min, an attacker with English Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur. Son, 24, has been named one of three “over-age” players that each team is allowed in the Olympic tournament, which otherwise is an under-23 competition.

Although the Olympic soccer tournament is not recognized by soccer’s governing body, FIFA, meaning that clubs are not obliged to release players, Tottenham has agreed to let Son go. Not only has the player expressed his desire to play, a military exemption would increase his long-term value to the team as well as his price should Tottenham choose to sell him. (In 2014, Son’s German club, Bayer Leverkusen, refused to allow him to participate in the Asian Games, in which South Korea won gold.)

The same applies to goalkeeper Gu Sung-yun. “I do not feel extra pressure” because of the prospect of military exemption, said Gu, 22, who plays professionally in Japan. “Instead, I feel hope and excitement rather than stress because I see my participation in the Olympics as a big opportunity,” one that will allow him to develop as a player.

In South Korea, the issue of whether athletes should be exempted from military duty can be sensitive. In March 2012, striker Park Chu-young managed to exploit a legal loophole because of his three-year residency in Monaco with the French club A.S. Monaco and was able to delay his duty by a decade.

The move was widely criticized by the media and fans. In June of the same year, he held a press conference in Seoul to apologize and was included in the Olympic team that won total exemption in August. Yoo Jee-ho, chief sports writer for the national news agency Yonhap, said support among the general public for exemptions has diminished in recent years. He suggested this could be because of the actions of some celebrities and sons of politicians in trying to avoid conscription altogether.

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Park Chu-young used a legal loophole to delay his military service in March 2012, but came under criticism for doing so. He later apologized and was included on the 2012 South Korean Olympic team.CreditJung Yeon-Je/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

“Winning Olympic medals might have been a bigger source of pride for people than it is now,” said Yoo. “If people in the past felt the athletes for the most part deserved the military exemption, I think the perception has changed slightly.”

There will still be plenty of attention on the Olympic soccer tournament, a competition taken seriously by fans and media, as well as players. The team kicks off against Fiji on Aug. 4 in and will also face Germany and the 2012 gold-medal winner Mexico.

For Coach Shin, finishing in the top two in pool play to move into the quarterfinals is the first target. “If we past the group stage, I think the possibility of winning a medal is 50-50,” he said. “Nobody can predict results in the knockout stage.”

It is not surprising that Korean players see the Olympics as second only to the World Cup, outranking the Asian Cup, the continent’s soccer championship for national teams.

“The Asian Cup is big,” said Gu. “But the Olympics is bigger because it is staged not in Asia, but on the world stage.”

The goalkeeper, 22, is desperate to recreate the success of 2012. “When the team won its first-ever soccer medal in Olympics history in London, all Koreans, including myself, were so excited.

“Back in 2012, I imagined how happy I would be if I could have participated in the Olympics. Now I am ready.”